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War of the Satellites (1958)
Topic Started: May 12 2012, 05:03 PM (464 Views)
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The United Nations is trying launch a spaceship to drop li'l satellites into orbit the way a hen lays eggs, but every time the ship gets up there the darned thing blows all up all over. Commander Richard Devon is intent on an eleventh test, which he'll lead himself; Michael "Dr. Grood" Fox argues it's a waste of money. Devon is winning the argument in front of the U.N., so one night he's hit with a beam from outer space and killed, replaced by an exact duplicate who is much less prone to argue for space travel. Turns out some extra-terrestrial forces want the galaxy to themselves; Devon leads Susan Cabot, Dick Miller and others into space, and tries to kill them one by one, but Dick Miller just isn't all that easy to kill.

X the Unknown, which I watched the other day, reminded me that I haven't seen EVERY 1950s sci-fi or horror film, there's still 4 or 5 I haven't gotten to, including this one. I loved it. Roger Corman contacted Allied Artists right after the Sputnik announcement and said, "I can get you a satellite movie in a few weeks." It was hastily planned, written, and shot (in 8 days) and was out while satellites were still in the news. Roger even stepped in and played one of the NASA-type dispatchers.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm gonna love a film whose opening shot includes Devon (who was in Corman's The Undead), Robert Shayne, Dick Miller, Susan "The Wasp Woman" Cabot, and Bruno VeSota, and I sure did like this one, cheezy (ultra-cheezy, actually) sets included (the typical spaceship room consisting of two unsecured chairs and a couple of dials and levers on the wall).

Favorite lines: make-out couple on a dark road as a satellite crashes near them: She" "Did you hear that?" He (continuing to smooch her): "My elastic just snapped."

I also liked a dying spaceman's admonition to the alien Devon: I was born a human and I'll die one before I'll join a race that kills innocent people for abstract ideas!"

Oh, good luck finding a race that doesn't do THAT, buddy.

The DVD is a lovely print and includes more than 2 dozen Corman trailers.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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